Corda Network is a publicly-available internet of Corda nodes operated by network participants. Each
node is identified by a certificate issued by the network’s identity service, and will also be discoverable on a network map.

Corda Network enables interoperability – the exchange of data or assets via a secure, efficient internet layer – in a way
that isn’t possible with separate, isolated Corda networks. A common trust root surrounds all transactions, and a consistent set of
network parameters ensures all participants may transact with each other.

The network went live in December 2018, and is currently governed by R3. An independent, not-for-profit foundation has been
set up to govern the network, and a transitional board will be selected from initial participants in Spring 2019, which will oversee
the foundation until democratic elections are held a year later. See the governance model
for more detail.

The network will support many sub-groups of participants running particular CorDapps (sometimes referred to as ‘business networks’),
and these groups will often have a co-ordinating party (the ‘business network operator’) who manages the distribution of the
app and rules, including membership, for its use. There is a clear separation between areas of control for the network as a whole
and for individual business networks. Like the internet, Corda Network intends to exist as a background utility.

The main benefit of Corda Network for participants is being able to move cash, digital assets, and identity data from one application
or line of business to another. Business network operators also benefit by being able to access network-wide services, and reuse the
trust root and network services, instead of building and managing their own.

The Identity Service controls admissions of participants into Corda Network. The service receives certificate
signing requests (CSRs) from prospective network participants (sometimes via a business network operator) and reviews the
information submitted. A digitally signed participation certificate is returned if:

The participant meets the requirements specified in the bylaws and policies
of the foundation (broadly speaking, limited to sanction screening only);

The Network Map Service accepts digitally signed documents describing network routing and identifying information from
nodes, based on the participation certificates signed by the Identity Service, and makes this information available to all
Corda Network nodes.

The Corda design separates correctness consensus from uniqueness consensus, and the latter is provided by one or more Notary
Services. The Notary will digitally sign a transaction presented to it, provided no transaction referring to
any of the same inputs has been previously signed by the Notary, and the transaction timestamp is within bounds.

Business network operators and network participants may choose to enter into legal agreements which rely on the presence
of such digital signatures when determining whether a transaction to which they are party, or upon the details of which they
otherwise rely, is to be treated as ‘confirmed’ in accordance with the terms of the underlying agreement.

The Corda Network provides an endpoint serving an empty certificate revocation list for TLS-level certificates.
This is intended for deployments that do not provide a CRL infrastructure but still require strict CRL mode checking.
In order to use this, add the following to your configuration file:

This set-up ensures that the TLS-level certificates are embedded with the CRL distribution point referencing the CRL issued by R3.
In cases where a proprietary CRL infrastructure is provided those values need to be changed accordingly.